Mar 21, 2012

Once again, we tune in to another thrilling episode of Emo Senator, southern Minnesota's most beloved telenovela, where Mike Parry's loyal fans are schocked to find the Belle of Waseca County ruthlessly attacked as not being conservative enough for the values of First District Republicans.

I have paid virtually no attention to the political scene in Minnesota. I’m not even certain who is vying for Tim Walz’s seat.

I had an opportunity, though, to listen to Mike Parry in one of his first meet-and-greet get-togethers before we left for California for the winter. Also, I recently read everything on his website.

We had an opportunity to ask questions of Parry at his meeting. He says he is a conservative. I don’t think so.

Conservatives generally have no problem telling you what they believe. Their responses are based on long established and firm beliefs grounded on very solid principles. That clearly was not evident in Parry’s answers. He wouldn’t give us a straight answer about ethanol. He did say, however, that his common retort is to ask whether we want food prices to skyrocket, blah-blah-blah.

This answer is really troubling, as it indicates someone who is largely clueless about economics. In addition, on three or four occasions, Parry wouldn’t provide answers to questions because, as he said, he needed to be in Washington to find out what the real answers were. Again, that reflects someone without either core conservative principles or someone whose understanding of conservatism is shallow to nonexistent.

His website is also revealing. There are four basic legs of conservatism. They are one, fiscal; two, social; three, national defense; and four, constitutional. Parry’s website covers only the fiscal side and even that coverage is marginal given his evident lack of understanding of economics. There is nothing about the other three. Other than wanting the seat Walz now holds, what exactly does Parry stand for?

Obviously Parry doesn’t embody the principles of conservatives or the Tea Party. I sure hope there are other candidates in the First District. At this point almost anyone would do.

This attack must cut to the quick, in that Emo Senator will tell anyone who listens that he is a conservative man. Allen Quist is probably more conservative, but Gudmundson doesn't mention him. The New Ulm Journal, on the other hand, brought up his name in Brown County Republican Convention foreshadows GOP campaigns and included a video of Quist receiving a lot of appreciative chuckles from the gathered faithful.

It's also odd that Gudmundson says that he "paid virtually no attention to the political scene in Minnesota," when he is one of the more frequently published writers on the pages of the Winona Daily News' oped section. Granted, he has been spilling his ink defending Rush Limbaugh in such witty pieces as Duck, duck, goose? which began:

Rush Limbaugh recently got into hot water with the sanctimonious and preposterous left by calling a duck a duck.

Actually, the word he used was "slut," and Limbaugh had not been talking about a duck, so perhaps Emo Senator fans may not want to desert Mike Parry upon reading Gudmundson's inability to locate Mike Parry's conservative ethos.

But back in 2010, Gudmundson did pay closer attention and found a Walz challenger that he liked a lot, after he tried challenging Walz himself. In Here's a 1st District conservative like me, the retired military man describes his soulmate:

A few weeks ago I told the Minnesota Republican Party that I would be a candidate in the 1st Congressional District. . . .

At the GOP forums I attended, I made it clear, however, that I had no wish to go to Washington and also made it clear that I was looking for another candidate whose views were like mine.

I found that candidate. His name is Jim Engstrand. He is a lieutenant colonel in the Minnesota Guard and recently returned from Iraq.

Like me, he is a true conservative. By that I mean he is a fiscal conservative, a social conservative, a national defense conservative and also a constitutional conservative.

He, too, is running because he is convinced he is obligated to and not because he has a desire to be a politician. Neither of us are politicians nor did we ever have any plans to be. But we both came to the conclusion that we absolutely had to stand up for our country. What we need are people with backbone and conservative principles plus the character to do the right thing.

Demmer is running as and has been telling us that he is a staunch conservative.

Unfortunately, that is not the case. In 2009, The Taxpayer's League Foundation gave Demmer a rating of 64 out of a possible 100.

His overall rating for his time in the Minnesota Legislature is just a bit better at 74. That is not conservative, nor is it what most Republicans expect of the representative.

Also during one of our forums, Demmer appeared not to support a promise by the candidates to not use earmarks, though I could be wrong and hope I am. We cannot balance the budget by getting rid of earmarks. The practice, however, is just plainly corrupt.

Jim Engstrand is not available to run for the CD1 MNGOP endorsement on the weekend of April 21, as at last sighting he was one of a dozen Republicans vying in the May 29 primary in the 36th Congressional District in Texas.